JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.- Missouri gaming regulators Wednesday praised an uneventful launch of the state’s legal online and in-person sportsbooks following more than a year of preparation.
- Missouri regulators praised the smooth, glitch-free launch of statewide online and retail sports betting after nearly 13 months of regulatory preparation.
- All eight mobile and eight retail sportsbooks opened Monday, generating 2.6 million login attempts and 250,000 active accounts on Day 1, signaling strong early engagement.
- Officials highlighted the extensive regulatory workload - more than 2,500 applications and a delayed launch timeline - but said the thorough process led to an efficient rollout.
Missouri’s first mobile and retail books started accepting bets early Monday morning, culminating in nearly 13 months of behind-the-scenes regulatory work following the approval of the 2024 constitutional amendment that legalized sports betting in the state. There were no major technical or regulatory glitches on launch day, Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC) chair Jan Zimmerman told Covers in an interview Wednesday.
“No news is good news,” Zimmerman said. “If something had gone terribly wrong, I probably would have heard about it, but it was pretty quiet on Monday.”
Missouri sports betting launch overview
All eight licensed Missouri mobile and eight retail sportsbooks accepted bets Monday.
These books generated more than 2.6 million login attempts in the first 24 hours of live mobile betting, per findings from geolocation tracking firm GeoComply. There were 250,000 accounts active on launch day, including 188,000 that had registered in the two weeks leading up to launch, GeoComply found.
The in-person books, available at eight of the state’s 13 casinos, also all opened Monday. Several waited until later in the day to open, but the BetMGM sportsbook at Century Casino in Cape Girardeau accepted its first bet shortly after midnight on launch day, company officials said during a Gaming Commission meeting Wednesday.
Full financial figures from the first day and full month of betting won’t be available until mid-January, Zimmerman told Covers. In separate interviews, multiple Missouri sports betting operators said during the week they were impressed by the early betting action.
Long path to first bet
Monday’s launch culminated months of regulatory work and countless man-hours.
After the November 2024 voter approval amending the state constitution to permit sports betting, the MGC was tasked with key regulatory implementations, including personal suitability, financial disclosures, and a host of other issues. The commission received more than 2,500 separate applications pertaining to the sports betting launch, Zimmerman said.
Regulators had originally targeted a June 30 launch date, but the commission’s request for an expedited launch process was denied by the Missouri Secretary of State’s office. This pushed the go-live date to Dec. 1, the latest date permitted by the ballot measure.
Missouri’s nearly 13-month wait from legalization to first bet was one of the longest durations of any of the 31 states to approve mobile sports betting.
Speaking at Wednesday’s MGC meeting, executive director Michael Leara commended the roughly dozen staff members who helped promulgate the required sports betting regulations and reviewed the thousands of applications. He said their work allowed for a smooth launch day.
“Sports betting rolled out in a very successful and efficient manner,” Leara said.
